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and culture in the African Diaspora

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Thoughts: Past & Present

Good morning! I was so difficult for me to get up this morning, but I pulled myself out of the bed. I caught a ride with my wife on her way to work so I didn't have to deal with the bus and subway. I don't mind the commute, but it was nice to sit back and talk on our way in. I like riding the train too because I get a lot of reading in. I am on this campaign to read more books and watch less television. It has been working! It is all in my efforts to become a more effective educator. I also feel that it will better prepare for what is to come. So, I seek knowledge and pray for wisdom.

Knowledge + Wisdom = Understanding

The journey started young. I have been infatuated with knowledge since I was boy, but I was always afraid to approach her. She seemed larger than life and beyond my realm of comprehension. I would come close enough just to get a little of what she had to offer me. I didn't get too close because my peers would tease me and girls would call me soft. I became older and that infatuation turned into true love. Now, I spend time with her and I've been trying lately to give her the attention she deserves. Knowledge gives me light where there was darkness. She gives clarity to concepts and ideas that were once murky. Knowledge also dispels myths and conjectures that I once thought true. She broadens my vocabulary and allows me to express myself clearly. She is my sunshine and my light. She is my one true concubine. Remember that true and divine knowledge comes from God. I will leave on this note. Make this a fantastic and wonderful day! Peace~

19 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Knowledge + Wisdom = Understanding

Mathematically then, wisdom (the quality of being prudent and sensible) is understanding (the capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination) less knowledge (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning). In other words...

Wisdom = Understanding - Knowledge

How true! If you take understanding and remove knowledge, you get wisdom. Wise people don't necessarily know things. They didn't learn things, they just use their natural intelligence to discern and understand. By the same token, knowledge is understanding, less wisdom. Or...

Knowledge = Understanding - Wisdom

Take understanding (I understand how and why this machine works) and remove wisdom (my grandmother's innate capacity to see through things), and you get knowledge (I can draw this machine's diagram and tell you what the different parts do). Hmmm.

I'm chuckling as I read your response. I like the way that you broke it down. :)I understand. Knowledge is not necessarily truth, but wisdom is the innate/agnate ability to extract the truth from what is presented. Yes, grandmother may not have possessed book knowledge, but her wisdom always prevailed.

Too many concubines Sir, Wisdom, Chocolate, Books!!?? I may have to tell Mrs Bess about all this. Unless, of-course you generously pay your monthly "keep-your-mouth-dues" to me ASAP :)

Wonderful post indeed. You are a very wise man. Rethabile has done the deed. Now if I may add a few herbs to this pot without spoiling the broth :)

Manifestations of wisdom-It is humble-It seeks to know more-It is a good listener-It is willing to reconsider

II Chronicles 2:10Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great? 11: And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king: 12: Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.

Well, I'm not a mathematician, but these look like sound equations to me. And I'll bet your morning talks with your lovely wife increase your sum of knowledge and wisdom exponentially. (I'd try to show that numerically, but it might take away from the smart points I gained by using the term "exponentially").

Anyway, I am reminded of Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" which is my favorite story to teach comp II students. The wise narrator of the story and her college-educated daughter beautifully illustrate the difference between wisdom and knowledge and the need to reconcile one with the other.

Plus, it's just an absolutely perfect story. If I start talking about it, I won't stop.

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I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language. To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization.Frantz Fanon, (Black Skins, White Mask - 1952, trans. 1967)